Backyard Bash Welcomes FAT Village Residents to the Neighborhood

Simply Puppets' David Goboff shows how puppetry can bite -- and still be worthwhile

Photo by Mickie Centrone

New Times Broward-Palm Beach Calendar Editor Mickie Centrone has the enviable job of knowing about every event that happens within the boundaries of the two counties, and then some. When she attends some of the finest events from a given week, we'll post the details of her travels here. On Thursday, she attended FAT Village's Backyard Bash in Fort Lauderdale.

On the short

walk over to the FAT (Flagler Arts & Technology) Village Backyard Bash at Peter Feldman Park from our office, two coworkers and I mused if New Times would be part of

this new, hip area of town called Flagler Village, the 151 acres just

north of downtown Fort Lauderdale. And there we are: as "#26" near the bottom of the map posted at the event's passport station.

"You

can find me at the beer tent," says Chris Bellus, a trucker-capped

New Times photographer, who was off duty this evening. Maguire's

16 Hill, the local neighborhood Irish bar, had set up a station across

the way, so we take his lead and cross through the park, which sits on

NE Sixth Street and Third Avenue. There is a good-sized crowd, a mix of

lawyer/business and creative types.

We pass the stage, where

Twilight Notes DJ Adam Foster spins, but I stop a little short, because a

puppet tent catches my eye. A puppeteer, David Goboff of Simply Puppets, has

two puppets going. The seats are empty, but I sit down anyways.

Goboff comes around to the front and does a can-can dance to draw a crowd.

After a few fervent leg kicks into the air, he asks where my friends are

at. I respond, "Getting drinks."

"Bring your beer!"

Dave

yells. "Beer makes every puppet show better." And this works: A few

folks saunter over, beer in hand. "I think every beer needs a

puppet show," Bellus says, as he sits down next to me.

For

the

puppet show, Dave requests an adult volunteer. I stand up. After a few

quick glances around the stand, I notice there's no script. This puppet

show's going to be impromptu. Not good. "You've never

heard of Little Red Riding Hood?" Dave asks. Not enough. After

the

audience chanted "Eat her up" a few times, the hunter saves the day,

granny and Hood live, and I head straight to get a Jack and Coke.

FAT Village revelry at the Backyard Bash

Photo by Mickie Centrone

The

next tent is for the condominium Alexan Solmar (408 NE 6th Street). The staff sport

T-shirts that read "FUN SEXY NOW," and I learn Solmar has a 24-hour

fitness center with three personal trainers. We also hit up some artists